Dark Angel
by Roselyne
Summary: Sequel to TIL THE POINT OF NORETURN. It is said that when someone dies horribly, the soul cannot find peace. So sometimes, a crow carries the soul back... to put the wrong things right...
1. The Awakening

**DARK ANGEL   
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**  
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**Chapter One - the Awakening**

_"A man is dreaming that he is a butterfly... How can you know, when he wakes up, that it's not the butterfly who is dreaming that he is a man ?" (R.M.)   
"Some things are too beautiful to de destroyed... until the point of no return..." (Juunanagou) _  


A cracking sound... 

Winds in the trees... 

His eyes were still closed. He was feeling too exhausted to open them. He breathed. Odors of moss and wood... He was in a forest, for sure... 

He tried to extend his senses to his skin to locate where he was. Something hard on his back, and he was sitting on something soft. His fingers moved with difficulty. He recognized under them moss and dried fir needles. That was where the odor was coming from. He tried to remember how he had arrived there... 

A sudden caw startled him and he opened his eyes widely . He realized he was leant against a fir-trunk, in the forest. On one of his knees, was a crow as dark as the night. He looked at him, astonished. The crow cawed at him one more time, and then took flight. He sat up. *Did he think I was already dead, and that he could have a meal... ?*, he got the funny thought. He looked down to his old orange tunique, but didn't notice any trace of blood. 

Then he followed the crow's flight until he saw another man, in front of a little wooden house, vaguely familiar. He could only see the man's back, not his face, but began to observe him. Rather tall, he was wearing a long black coat, under which he could barely see black trouser and brown boots. The man was also wearing a familiar sword over the coat. Hitting detail that caught all his attention. He then saw purple hair, and knew who the man was: "Trunks !", he called out, but his voice was so weak that the man didn't seem to hear him. He tried to move, but he felt so exhausted that he didn't manage to stand up. 

He then noticed another detail : Trunks was holding a burning torch in his right hand. The crow landed on the handle of his sword and cawed. Trunks slightly turned his face to the crow and nodded, as if both were agreeing about some idea. Then Trunks began to walk towards the house. 

Goku grabbed the fir-trunk to try to stand on his feet... and succeeded. He walked a few steps, as Trunks was touching some parts of the house lightly with the torch. Avid flames began to devor the defenseless wood. Not caring of the increasing temperature, Trunks remained at the entrance of the house, a few seconds, before throwing the torch inside. 

The fire began to spread its reign inside the house. Goku noticed a disturbing detail: among the flames, he saw a thin arm, lifeless, soon hidden by the growing flames. 

_*What the hell is happening here ??!* _

He moved a few steps toward the house, wondering why it looked so familiar. Trunks was walking backwards to move away from the burning hell. The crow was still on the handle of the sword, sometimes opening his wings to keep his equilibrium. He cawed once more, and his caw echoed dramatically in the clearing, before the deafening creaking of the fire filled the whole space. 

He heard in the back of his mind, something more like a whisper than a real voice: _"Sometimes, some things are too beautiful to de destroyed... until the point of no return..."_. He had already heard those words, but... ?! 

He suddenly remembered... At the same time, Trunks turned away from the house and began to walk. Goku saw his face. A face he would surely remember in his worst nightmares. 

His face expression was as cold as iceberg, with some burning fury in his eyes. His skin was really pale, almost white, although Goku wasn't sure of the color, with the dancing flames around, projecting golden light on his face. Trunks had, also, black tears coming down from his eyes, and his lips were black, with a smile coming from the tips. He was looking like an Avenging Angel from Hell. His eyes seemed more alive than ever, two pieces of ice ready to burn any foes. 

Goku saw Trunks's lips moving slightly, and he heard a whisper of the words: "They will all die ". 

They ? Who ? Goku didn't get more time to wonder as the crow took his flight, cawing. Trunks looked at him, and began to run in the same direction. They both passed at 10 meters from a still Goku. When the crow arrived at his level, he cawed again before disappearing into the darkness of the wood, followed by Trunks. 

*Was it like... a dark invitation ?*, Goku wondered. As then he remembered Trunks: *what kind of a ki was that ?*   


"No more crisis ?", Yamucha asked from the controls of the plane. 

"No", Chichi whispered, gently brushing aside some locks of hair from Goku's face. "His dreams seem more quiet now..." 

Trunks turned his eyes for a few seconds to watch Goku, then, without a word, looked through the porthole again to the illimited sky... 

**[TO BE CONTINUED...]**


	2. The Laughing Target

**DARK ANGEL   
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**  
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**Chapter Two - the Laughing Target**

_"A man is dreaming that he is a butterfly... How can you know, when he wakes up, that it's not the butterfly who is dreaming that he is a man ?" (R.M.)   
"Some things are too beautiful to de destroyed... until the point of no return..." (Juunanagou) _  


It was a dark moonless night... 

A night for ghosts, for dispair songs. A night during which kids were thinking twice before sneaking out. Old legends were perhaps subjects of jokes but in such nights, they were coming back to tickle the subconscious. 

In a tunnel, in some bad quarter of some mad city, a fire was projecting some dancing glimmer on the curved wall. Sometimes, ghostly moving shadows were interrupting the golden light. 

The fire was coming from a burning car, crushed against the wall. Two junkies, half drunk, were celebrating some victory, their motobikes on the side. Pressed against the uring stinking sticky wall, a 11 years old boy was holding tight his little sister, 6 years old. They were both trembling, not trying to imagine what would come next. The boy, Fuma, was bleeding from a cut at his forehead, and at his knee. His sister, Kotori was covered of blood, but which wasn't hers. Her tears had made furrows among the blood and dust on her face. 

There, in the burning car, their two parents had met death in the car incident, after trying to escape the HELL ANGELS. The kids had been projected out before the collision, and had seen the coctail molotov thrown by the "angels" into the car. 

Noticing that perhaps the two "angels" were too drunk to watch them closely, Fuma grasped Kotori's hand and began to half-pull, half-carry her to the exit of the tunnel. A metallic bar hit the wall just two centimeters from Fuma's eyes. Under the shock, he fell backwards, involving Kotori in his fall. He put protective arms around her while one of the "angels" was crouching near them. 

"Ya wanna leav' us, kids ? Why ? The party just b'gan", he told, moving slowly the metalic bar near Fuma's eyes. "We're goin' to haf a lotta fun together", he added, touching slightly Kotori's cheek with the bar. Fuma pushed it away. The man snorted, then stood up and threw his foot in Fuma's face, projecting the young brown haired boy at 5 meters away. He hit the other _angel_'s boot in the process. 

"My mum also hated kids", the first one - Tobby - concluded with a wolly voice. He began to laugh alone at his own humor. 

A sudden caw interrupted his throaty laugh. He startled, turning on himself, and saw a big, black bird on the handlebar of his motorbike. He made large movements of his arms to chase the animal away, but the crow justed moved his wings slightly, cawing again. 

"If ya shit on my handlebar... we won't be friendz", he told, approaching. 

Steps sounds pulled him from his thoughts. The other angel - Ben - raised his eyes to watch at the newcomer, slowly moving his hand to his back, and firmly closing his fingers around the handle of a "morning star" that was sticking out his worn jeans. He remained straight, watching the approaching figure. 

_"Blessed is he who, in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children."_

The young, soft, but firm voice was echoing in the tunnel as the stranger was approaching. The two HELL ANGELS were tensed, waiting for the best action to do, judging of the threat the newcomer could bring. The two kids, pressed against each others, were also staring, helplessly, as the approaching figure stepped into the circle of light created by the fire of the car. Tall, dark cloth, with a long black coat, a sword attached in the back, purple hair, and some ghostly clown make up on the face. 

_"And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers."_

"What da hell isdat?", Tobby was staring at the stranger with wide and surprised eyes. 

"Shall I join your party?", the newcomer inquired softly. 

Ben was still tensed, "Halloween won't come before a month, dude! Get your ass outa here if you value your life!". 

"Da shit ya smoke must be awesome, man! Didja see ya face?", Tobby started laughing, too much under the influence of the alcohol to realize of the danger. 

Trunks had observed the two men, judged their personality, and already made his choice. He stepped closer to the two Hell's Angels. "I came all this way to find your group... And you tell me to leave now? You break my heart...", he added, sounding chagrined. 

Ben took his gun and pointed it menacingly towards Trunks: "I told you to leave this place now! I count until three !" 

Trunks raised an eyebrow. "Oh, I'm happy for you ! But I went beyong the stage of "three" many years ago...", he added, grinning. 

Ben frown while Tobby was laughing his ass off. "One..." 

Trunks walked two calm steps closer to Ben. "Before I leave, you'll answer a question of mine..." 

"Two!" 

Trunks still made two step closer, until the Ben's gun was pressing against his chest: "and I can't value Life, for I'm already dead..." 

Ben made a distusting frown: "See kids?", he started for Kotori and Fuuma, "This is why you shouldn't try drugs. We're professionals, don't imitate.". Trunks was watching Ben with a soft and amused smile. 

"Oh... Excuse me, I forgot", Ben blinked, " THREE !", and he fired. 

The shot-sound echoed against the wall like a thunder, as Trunks was projected backwards under the violence of the blank point shot. Blood flew in the air and on Ben from the large wound on Trunks' chest while Trunks' body was hitting the ground. 

Fuuma had put a hand on Kotori's mouth to prevent her from screaming, even if the tiny hope he had seen with the newcomer's arrival had suddenly metled like snow under the sun. 

"Good shot, maaaaaaaaaaaan!", Tobby shouted, raising his thumb up, while Ben was staring at the lifeless corpse a few feet from him. "Stupid!", he hissed between his teeth. He raised his gaze towards Kotori and Fuuma, "If you count on dumbs like this to save your lifes... better start praying God...", he added, walking towards the children. 

"Oh no, Ben, don't kill them yet...", Tobby pleaded, "I still want to have a little f--". He stopped in the middle of his sentence, jaw-dropping, his eyes catching some movement from the lifeless body... which didn't seem anymore lifeless at all, considering that it was now sitting and examining the wound... which was slowly reducing and healing. 

Ben turned towards Tobby to see why he wasn't finishing his sentence, then saw Trunks, calmly sit and looking at him with a gentle smile. 

"What the hell...", Ben whispered, staring at the smooth untouched skin, visible through the hole in the black tee-shirt, only remaining proof of the previous wound. 

"It's good you talk about God...", Trunks said, raising on his feet. "because HE gave me a message for you...", he started walking towards Ben. 

Ben moved backwards, trying to find any explanation of that miracle, and deciding for the most reasonable - and most probable, according to the statistics - thing to say: "You monster". He shot at Trunks. 

Trunks caught the bullet in the left lung, he stepped backwards under the shock, then resumed calmly his walk towards Ben: "HE said you did enough...", his face was calm, and looked almost full of concern, despite the heavy black and white make-up. 

Ben shot again twice, reaching Trunks in the stomac and in the liever. Again, Trunks stepped backwards before resuming his walk as if nothing had happened. "It's time to pay for your faults...". Tobby, despite the non-negligeable alcohol quantity in his blood - or rather, the quantity of blood in his alcohol - understood the situation and started running away. 

Ben aimed Trunks' heart and fired twice more. Trunks jerked violently backwards and bent over, a hand pressing on his chest at the heart level for a few seconds before raising his face - no more calm and full of concern, but with an evil grin and fire in his eyes - towards Ben: "Hell is opening its arm to thee." 

Before Ben could react, Trunks jumped to him and grabbed the gun from his hand. He did a bad key to Ben's elbow and the bone came out in a sinister crack; meanwhile, Trunks was already turning on himself almost graciously, still holding Ben's arm who hadn't reacted yet to the pain, and firing at Tobby with Ben's gun. The bullet caught Tobby at the right knee, exploding it. Tobby howled and rolled in the dust. Trunks stared at him for a few seconds, watching Tobby opening wide eyes with horror, realizing his wound, then trying to crawl towards the wall, leaving a bloody line behind him. Trunks smiled at this. 

The mid-horror, mid-pain scream from Ben drove Trunks' attention back to the man whose broken arm he was holding. He let go off the man who fell on the wet pavement, not very far from the children. Ben looked up at Trunks. With the warm light on his face and the flames reflection on his long black coat, Trunks looked like the Avenging Angel from Hell. For a moment, he was voiceless, almost forgetting to breathe, then: "What are you made of, man...? Those who die don't come back..." 

He didn't exactely believed in his words - which he had learned as a matter of fact for his whole life - but was more repeating them to try to reassure himself, to believe this was just a bad dream, or a bad trip from one of the shits he had smoke at some party a few moments before. 

Trunks was staring at his tee-shirt, five holes showing unscratched skin were the only traces of the previous shot from Ben, along with the blood which hadn't dried yet. "Man, I hate what you did to my cloth. This tee-shirt was brand new!" 

Ben tried to crawl backwards, holding his arm, feeling the bone under his fingers, but trying the do-not-to-think-about-it-now--there-is-no-spoon--do-not-to-think-about-it-right-now. "Those who die don't come back...", he was still repeating as a school-contine. 

"Okie, we're going to play a little game, Ben!", Trunks started, checking first how many remaining bullets were in the gun he was still holding. From the corner of his eyes, he saw that Tobby had reached the wall and was using the metallic bar along it to help his balance while jumping on his still intact leg to move away from the main scene. Trunks reported his attention towards a speechless Ben. "A simple game... I ask questions... and you answer me..." 

Ben remained speechless, breathing rapidly under the pain. Trunks stared at him for a few seconds, then "Which country are you from?" 

Ben blinked: "What?" 

" 'What' ain't no country I know...", Trunks retorted calmly, "Do they speak English in 'What'? " 

Ben was about to make an heart attack: "What?" 

"ENGLISH!!", Trunks snapped, "Can you speak it?" 

Ben startled: " yes..." 

"Then you understand what I'm saying?" 

"Yes..." 

"Good.", Trunks said in a satisfied tone, "then tell me who in your gang told about us to the cyborgs!" 

Ben was out of fear: "What?" 

Trunks jumped forward and leant on him, pressing the barrel of his gun hard against Ben's cheek: "SAY '**WHAT**' AGAIN! C'mon, say 'What' again! I dare you, I **DOUBLE DARE YOU** MOTHERFUCKER, say '**WHAT**' one more goddamn time!", his face was full of fury, nothing any more to do with the soft look of a few minutes ago.. 

Ben looked like he was shrinking on the spot. Trunks considered him for a short while, and simply said "Breathe". Thus Ben realized he was again forgetting about breathing. 

Trunks went on more calmly: "Now tell me who in your gang told the cyborgs about us." 

Ben trembled: "I don't know what you are talking about, I--" 

"Do I look like a bitch?", Trunks interrupted him. 

"What?", Ben asked without thinking. Trunks, who was still leant on Ben, stood again, and shot Ben in the shoulder of his untouched arm. Ben screamed, breaking into trembling and shaking spasms on the ground, curled up like a foetus. 

"Do-I-look-like-a-bitch?", Trunks repeated. 

"no...", Ben hissed between his teeth, in agony. 

"Then why do you try to fuck me like a bitch?", Trunks went on. 

Ben blinked in surprise. "What?" 

Trunks sighed, then shot in Ben's left knee (he likes that, the knee...). Ben rolled on the floor, screaming his voice away. Kotori and Fuuma were like stone statues. 

"I repeat, because apparently you didn't get it the first time", Trunks went on with a tone of a teacher, facing some slightly retarded student. "Why do you try to fuck me like a bitch?" 

"I don't", Ben cringed, trying to figure out how to hold his three hurt-or-broken arms and leg with his - not exploded yet - right leg. "I really don't know what you are talking about...!". He closed his eyes, expecting his right leg to explode really soon. Irony, his right leg was going to be one of the only parts of him to remain unhurt. 

Trunks saw in a distance that Tobby was reaching the end of the tunnel. He kneeled down near Ben and grabbed his hair, raising his head towards his. "you know what?", he whispered gently, "I think I'll believe you". Ben got an relieved smile. "But it's time for you to sleep", Trunks added, raising the gun to Ben's face. 

"Oh shit", Ben whined, the most used word in case of violent death - still according to the statistics... 

The sound of the shot echoed on the walls of the tunnel as Tobby was reaching the outside. He didn't dare looking back, knowing already what had happened.   


Trunks raised on his feet and look in the direction that Tobby had taken to run away. As he started walking in that direction, Kotori broke free from her brother's grab. "Mister, WAIT!" 

Trunks turned to her as she was grabbing his coat. "Our parents are in the car... don't leave us, please!". 

"KOTORI-CHAN!!!", Fuuma screamed, panicked, but not daring approaching the dark angel yet... 

Trunks stared at the car and the hungry flames which had almost already comsumed everything, flesh, synthetics, plastics and leather. Kotori raised her eyes at that moment and caught the look in Trunks' eyes. It was like he was brought into some distant past. Some past he was fearing to look into. She knew instantely that he'd do no harm to her brother and her. 

"Kotori!!!", Fuuma called again, "Come here now!!!" 

"Don't be afraid, nii-chan", Kotori retorted with a weak smile. "He is not a bad person". Trunks looked at her, astonished to get that adjective after the show he had made with Ben. 

"Please, don't leave us...", Kotori whispered again. Trunks looked at her, then at her brother (Fuuma cringed when he did so), and sighed, as if attending some internal battle. He then turned towards the crow who was still standing on the motorbike handlebar, as if nothing had happened, and nodded. The crow cawed and took his flight in the direction Tobby had taken. Trunks reported his attention back to the kids. 

"True... you can't stay here...", he said calmly.   
  


**[TO BE CONTINUED...]**


	3. A promise to Keep

**·..·**

**(¯·..·..· ----•(-•---------------------------------•-)•----..·..·´¯)**

**DARK ANGEL  
Chapter Three – A Promise to keep**

**(¯·..·..· ----•(-•---------------------------------•-)•----..·..·´¯)**

**·..·**

**·..·**

_"A man is dreaming that he is a butterfly... How can you know, when he wakes up, that it's not the butterfly who is dreaming that he is a man ?" (R.M.) _

_  
"Some things are too beautiful to de destroyed... until the point of no return..." (Juunanagou) _

**·..·**

**·..·**

Trunks started to slow down as he approached a Police Station. He had driven the motorbike he had "borrowed" as fast as he could, without jeopardizing the two kids traveling with him, Kotori in his lap and Fuma sitting behind him, grabbing his coat. The look on the boy's face showed he was still terrified by their savior, yet Trunks actually didn't blame him.

Ben's execution had been quite bloody for these young minds. In his own world, in the future, this kind of violence was everyday life. But here, this world was still preserved. For how long? He didn't know... Perhaps was it just a matter of months, or even days...

"Go there, kids...", he started, slowing the engine of the motorbike. He hated his actual physical condition. He couldn't die, but he couldn't fly nor use any other "ki application". "You'll have nothing to fear with them... They'll protect you...". It was a lie. If the cyborgs were to destroy all the actual human resistance, nothing would stop them from launching the "Judgment War" - as people called it in the future he was coming from. And nothing would save those kids.

**·..·**

In mid-air, Goku was still, and observing the situation downwards. He could perceive Trunks' inner thoughts about the security of people and his fear about the upcoming war. But something had changed about the youth. He had witnessed it in the tunnel. Goku was chagrined by the fact no one could see or hear him. He had tried to reason Trunks, to prevent him from torturing the man in there, but Trunks had been deaf to him, and neither the kids nor the man seemed to have heard him.

So for the moment, he accepted the fact he could only observe. Perhaps he would find an explanation to all this later on. He was of a patient kind. Except that he was hungry...

**·..·**

Fuuma jumped at once from the motorbike, happy to move away from the strange and scary man. He frowned as he realized Kotori wasn't moving but watching the Police Station with vacant eyes.

"Kotori-chan?", Fuuma tempted, trying not to catch too much Trunks' attention. Kotori didn't seem to hear him, so he went on, his voice more urging now as he wasn't sure their savior wouldn't explode suddenly without warning and pull a gun towards them, yelling "say what again, kid! I double-dare you!". Yet somehow, a darker part of him was grateful of what Trunks had done to their parent's murderers. They had deserved it!

"Kotori-chan? Can you climb down the bike, please?", Fuuma's voice was unease. He was the older brother, always giving instructions and always confident of his decisions (eventhou sometimes those decisions had led them both into troubles), but now he sounded like what he truly was: a frighten child, recent orphan, and lost in a dark place he didn't know.

"It is all my fault...", Kotori started with her tiny and soft voice, her eyes still vacant. Trunks frowned and turned his attention to her. "Kotori? What do you mean?". Unconsciously Fuuma got an idea of what Kotori was going to talk, he retorted automatically "No, Kotori-chan! Forget about that! It was not your fault!".

Kotori's eyes widened as tears almost formed. "It's me who insisted to go to the amusement park... They said they had no time but I kept pleading and crying... If I hadn't...". She couldn't continue as she suddenly burst into tears.

Fuuma made a step forward but Kotori inched away from him, into Trunks' lap. "I wish I'd die! So that they would be back again!". She clenched her eyes shut, trying to contain the tears that were flowing freely. And suddenly, she gasped and stopped crying. The absence of wails frightened Fuuma even more than the previous tears. He saw his sister raising slowly her face towards their scary savior, breathing deeply, her eyes expression like if she was in a dream.

"You are not responsible for your parents' death", was what Trunks had whispered to her, yet her words had poked him painfully. She reminded him of his own feelings. Back in the wooden house, he had been the only one who could have a chance against the cyborgs. He was the one, sent to protect Goku and his friends. Yet he had failed, too weak to be worthy of the effort made on him. Everybody had been killed.

Even himself…

He had failed.

And now, as he was laying his eyes on his dark companion, the crow had brought him back to amend for his weakness… To put the wrong things right.

Revenge was his purpose. To avenge his friends' death, and accomplish was he had been sent for: the destruction of the cyborgs.

He wasn't so different from the cyborgs after all. He had no ki, had a body which could regenerate from the wounds… the only difference was that there was a ghost in this shell of a body… unlike the cyborgs, who were only microchips; wires and electric impulses.

The only thing which was standing between the actual peaceful world and the judgment day, was a ghost, in a parody of a body, with revenge as his only purpose. As his only programming…

He realized then the look in Kotori's eyes. It was as if she could read all his thoughts, as if it was written all over his face.

"You lived something like this…", she whispered in a broken voice. Trunks froze. How far had she read in him? "In the tunnel, I felt it already", she went on, her eyes still locked on Trunks'. Fuuma was feeling the hair on his neck standing on his own. Sometimes, his sister had a weird way of talking to people. And when she was telling her dreams, it was in a strange, and sometimes even scary, way.

And now, he had the feeling she was doing it again, speaking dream-like to that dangerous-looking savior of theirs.

After a moment, Trunks just nodded to the little girl.

"But you don't cry". It sounded more like a question from the little blonde girl. Trunks' eyes darkened for a moment as he looked away, then back to that strange and bold little girl. "It happened a long time ago…"

He wasn't sure how long ago it had happened. How long was it since the cyborgs had come into the house in the wood, killing everyone, and torturing him until his soul almost shattered. Was it hours? Days? Months? He hoped for hours… He hated to think that the more the cyborgs spent time into this world, the closer the judgment day was…

"And because of it, it is not sad anymore?". The little girl's voice brought him back to here-and-now. She was probably wondering if one day she would feel the same about her parents' death.

Maybe. In a far future. If he could prevent the war…

Of there wouldn't be any future for anyone.

"It is still sad", Trunks replied after awhile. "But it makes my strength, now. I remember it, but my grief feed my hatred."

Fuuma tensed when he heard those words. He still couldn't trust that man, especially when his own sister, the only surviving member of his family after the evening's events, was still sitting on his motorbike.

The man could decide to turn it on again, and disappear with her.

And he would truly be alone…

Trunks felt the unease wave from the young boy, but kept his attention on Kotori, as he could read confusion on her face. He put a hand on the side of her head, surprising even himself in that gesture, and tried to reassure her. "One day, you'll feel the same. When the time will have flown by… But for now, you can cry".

As if the permission opened some gate, the tears came again into Kotori's eyes, and she buried her little face into Trunks' dark coat. A coat that could smell both wood, ash and blood. Yet, for now, the smell was somehow reassuring.

"Dad and Mum must hate me", she managed to sob after awhile. Fuuma wanted to go to her, to reassure her, but it was as if Trunks' presence forbid her to do so. At that moment, he hated Trunks. He felt jealous that this stranger had just arrived, and was sharing already something with his sister, something he felt alien with. He slapped mentally himself for such thoughts. This was the guy who had saved their lives, and avenged their parents' death.

Yet…

"They don't", Trunks replied with a frown, and a smile to the little girl, and for a moment, he also looked at Fuuma, trying to convince the boy of the same message. Fuuma felt some blood reaching his cheeks, but managed to remained expressionless. "They surely love you", the strange man went on. "And they are already watching you, happy to see you are alive…"

"You must keep up for them", Trunks went on, after a few moment.

There was a silence. The purple haired man was looking at the two kids, one ofter the other, but he was also paying some attention to the noise coming from the police station. At this late hour of the evening, there weren't a lot of commotion, but one patrol car could still some by the corner. And what the policemen would see would be weird enough for them, to be suspicious to their eyes.

"I will keep up for them", Kotori whispered after awhile. Then she rose her eyes again to meet Trunks'. "And you? Will you?"

Trunks' eyes widened slightly, then some cloud passed on them as he whispered: "I live only for a promise I must fulfill."

Kotori looked at him from aside. "Will you be happy when you'll have fulfilled your promise?"

Trunks frowned. He had never thought that far. Destroying the cyborgs, getting his revenge, was his own goal. What would happened next? What would happen of him, next? Wherever he would go, would he be at peace?"

"Perhaps...", he mostly answered to himself. But the little girl didn't realize this. She leant towards him. "Can you make another promise with me?"

Trunks' eyes grew wide again. This child was surprising. She had lost her parents in an horrible way, had almost been tortured and killed with her brother… and yet, she was sometimes crying as she had the right to do… and sometimes, extremely calm. Were all the kids in this time-era like that? Perhaps, he thought… Perhaps that when a kid is not obliged to think about how he must travel at night to avoid the cyborgs, in order to find some food in the dooms, perhaps a kid is behaving that way.

He nodded to the little girl, wondering what would be that "promise" she wanted him to do to her.

"When you'll be finish with your first promise, can you come back to me to tell me it's done?"

Her eyes were expecting, like the eyes of a young pup or kitten, begging for attention and care. For awhile Trunks was almost forgetting why he was there, and especially where he had risen from recently…

These two kids, especially the little girl, had taken a bigger importance for him in the latest hours, that he had ever espected, and he wasn't sure it was good. It was perhaps better for him not to get attached to anybody, in order not to be taken away from his purpose. From the purpose of his return.

But other words came to his memories: 'It is said that once you saved a life, you become responsible for that life'. Yes, he could do that promise. He could come back once everything would be over, just to make sure the kids were all right.

He could do it… If he succeeded, this time.

He leant his head a little. "All right… I will make this promise to you: I will come back to you, to tell you goodbye."

**·..·**

**·..·**

**TO BE CONTINUED...**

_Yep, the story isn't over ;)_

_All right, it tooks some big amount of time for me to update it, but it's all done in my head, so it's not like I'm inventing chapter after chapter. I only need to find some rare and precious things: motivation AND time to write ;-)_

_This chapter was in other tune, compared to the two previous ones. But if you like blood, stay tuned for next chapter ;-)_

_Have a great day, meanwhile ;D_

_Hugs_

_:Roselyne:_


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